Threaded fasteners known as Tee-nuts, are in wide use, in a variety of industries. In general, they are formed out of sheet metal. A generally tubular sleeve is extruded or stamped out of the sheet metal, leaving a flange around one end of the sleeve, with both ends of the sleeve being open. Usually the interior of the sleeve is threaded to receive a threaded fastener. In many cases, some form of anti-rotation means are provided in the form of prongs extending downwardly more or less at right angles to the plane of the flange.
Such Tee-nuts are widely used especially, for example, in the furniture industry where many such Tee-nuts may be embedded in wooden work pieces so that the pieces of furniture may be assembled and secured together. However, new uses for such Tee-nuts are constantly emerging. It is now found that such Tee-nuts can be advantageously used both in wood and in molded products. Where the embedment material or receiving material is formed of a flowable moldable material a Tee-nut has many advantages. Such moldable materials may, for example, include thermoplastics and rubber or synthetic rubber like compounds, and a variety of other such flowable moldable materials.
In these cases it is found useful to embed the Tee-nuts in the flowable material, so that after molding is complete the Tee-nuts are located in the molded article at various spaced locations.
It has been found, however, that during the molding operation, there may be a tendency for the flowable material to flow into the interior of the threaded sleeve of the Tee-nut. This will then impair the usefulness of the Tee-nut as a fastening socket to receive a fastener.
A further advantage of the invention is that the sealed end will prevent moisture and contaminants from entering the Tee-nut, whether it is used in a flowable material, or whether it is used typically in a wooden workpiece or the like.
Usually during the molding operation the flanged end of the Tee-nut will be embedded at a certain depth in the molded article, with the other end of the sleeve, ie. the end of the sleeve remote from the flange being open at the surface of the molded article to receive a threaded fastener. It has been found to be desirable to exclude the flowable material from the flange end of the sleeve in order to permit effective use of the threaded sleeve for receiving fasteners in the finished article.